Poultry company to expand processing facilities, hire 182 workers

FORT SMITH, Ark. — Fort Smith-based poultry company OK Industries will hire 182 workers as part of a $7 million expansion of its processing facilities, The Courier reported.

Most of the positions will be in the company’s chicken deboning operation to increase capacity and improve quality.

“You can’t be too choosy when adding jobs at this time of the economic recovery,” Kermit Kuehn, director of the Center for Business Research and Economic Development at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, said. “We’re thrilled they’re adding jobs, since there will be certain ‘flow-through’ effects for local retailers.”